Chapter 1204 The Spine of the Continent

When the sun sets, the temperature in the mountains also drops rapidly.

Time to find a place to stay for the night, Lightning thought. The temperature difference on the top of the desperate situation is astonishingly large. After crossing the sea of ​​clouds, the sunlight during the day is like roasting people. If not covered, the exposed skin will be easily sunburned. And once night comes, the howling cold wind will quickly take away all the heat. If you still sleep on the treetops like when you were hiding in the forest, you are afraid that it will freeze to dryness the next day.

Therefore, we must find a safe haven before night completely covers the earth.

"That's it for today," Lightning took out the listening talisman and said, "I'll go find a nest, and you can bring some food back."

Maisie couldn't reply in flight mode, but she knew the other party heard her communication.

Then she lowered her altitude and entered a state of flying close to the ground - Agatha had repeatedly warned her before setting off that when looking for traces of the devil, she should either fly very high or walk close to the ground, and never change the path at will. Otherwise, once you accidentally enter the area affected by the divine stone veins, no one will be able to save you.

Lightning strictly carried out this instruction. In the vast mountains, no one could help her if any accident happened. She had to take care of herself and Maisie at the same time.

Since she had paid attention to possible hiding places during her previous search, she quickly found a cave half-opened on the mountainside - the terrain here was like a stone forest, with tens of thousands of hills of almost equal heights, densely packed together. Together, each hill is about the size of Neverwinter City. If placed outside, no one would take a second look. However, a strange change has occurred here, as if the top of the mountain was carved into this shape by a big hand. .

The gap between the mountain tops has become a natural waterway. When there is a heavy rain, flash floods will sweep down with great force. More importantly, the climate changes in the mountains are extremely drastic. The sky may be clear here, but there may be lightning and thunder over there. If an inexperienced explorer chooses to camp in the mountains for convenience, he may be attacked by a fire in the middle of the night. Floods without warning can knock people off their feet, so whether there is an ideal shelter or not, the foothold must be high.

She has witnessed similar situations several times since entering this mountainous area known as the spine of the continent.

In addition, the hills here are also different from other places. Most of the time, the mountain walls should be steep and sharp, but these hills are basically round, even soft in shape, and full of holes, as if they are not natural. The rock formed is what the fluid looks like after solidification.

Fortunately, they still retain the hardness of stone, enough to support a shelter.

The cave this time was quite large, almost ten meters square, and there were some weeds and branches scattered inside, probably left by birds and animals when they made their nests. After confirming that there was no potential danger, Lightning informed Maisie of the location and then packed up the temporary residence.

When the sunset was completely replaced by night, Maisie, who turned into a snow owl, returned to the cave. She fluttered her feathers, returned to her human form, and raised the cyst on her chest like a gift, "Look what I found!"

Lightning took the bag and took out a pheasant and four huge eggs. This is a rare harvest on the top of a desperate situation. Even Maisie, who is experienced in hunting, may not always be able to return with a full load.

"Well done!"

Lightning touched her head and gave her a proud smile, "Hey."

The bonfire quickly rose. She used the mud deposited at the bottom of the mountain to surround the stove to prevent the fire from being discovered. Then she covered the pheasant with its feathers removed with mud, put the whole body into the fire, and finally covered the bird. Egg.

Thirty minutes later, dinner is done.

The two of them have practiced this cooking technique many times in the Hidden Forest, so practice makes perfect.

The moment they cracked open the mud shell, a strong fragrance instantly poured into their nostrils.

The fat leached from the skin makes the chicken shine, and the spices filling the belly are fully stimulated by the roasting, and blend into the whole body along with the steaming heat; after removing the soft skin, all that is left is tender and delicious food. . Unlike the finished product that is cooked directly over a flame, there are no scorch marks on the whole chicken, and the meat is as white as new, and you can still see the thin strands connecting it when you tear it apart.

Served with steamed bird eggs, the two of them had their mouths full of oil in no time, even the chicken bones were not spared.

"Hiccup," Maisie exhaled, "Sure enough, the food you catch yourself is the most delicious."

This guy clearly plausibly accused himself when they first met, "You actually want to eat a bird."

Lightning shook his head in amusement, "Did you find anything today? Besides food."

"Well, there is no Gu... The landscape here is basically the same. If there are traces of the devil's actions, I will definitely find Gu."

Sure enough, if the divine stone veins are buried deep underground, it will be too difficult to find clues through aerial reconnaissance alone. I don't know where Taquila's support fleet is now. If they can give a general direction, no matter how vague the location is, it will be much better than blindly searching now.

Lightning suppressed his distracting thoughts, pointed to the cave and said, "In that case, then go and use it as my bed!"

"Oh - I understand Gu." Maisie dragged her long white hair to her designated position and transformed into a coiled terrifying beast.

Lightning extinguished the remaining flames and lay in the crook of her belly - limited by the size of the nest, the two of them had different ways of keeping warm. Compared to squeezing each other in a small sleeping bag, it was obvious that Maisie was in the form of a beast. It was more comfortable to resist the cold wind. At least her belly was like a huge heater, enough to ensure that she would not be woken up by the cold at night.

However, this was not without its shortcomings. The skin of the Terror Beast was quite rough, and could even be described as a shave. Lightning couldn't help but miss Lorgar's fur.

"Aren't you asleep yet?" Seeing her take out the luminous magic stone, Maisie turned around and asked.

"Well, I have to record today's route. It won't take long. You can go to sleep first."

"Okay." Mai Qian said in a high voice. After a while, she suddenly muttered again, "You will always take me on adventures in the future, right?"

Lightning was stunned for a moment, then replied softly, "Of course."

After Ashes is gone, I will take up the responsibility of protecting you.

After hearing the answer, Maisie finally closed her eyes.

Lightning sat there for a long time before taking out the notepad from his pocket.

It is now the tenth day since they entered the northern mountainous area of ​​the Everwinter Kingdom, and the search distance has reached about 120 kilometers. The deeper she goes into the desperate situation, the more she feels her own insignificance. In this place where no one had ever set foot, she saw many indescribable sights - the vast mountainous stone forest landscape like a fertile plain, the ice waterfall that plunged straight into the sea from the northeast, and the sea of ​​clouds that rose like a staircase. And the huge rift valley in the center of the continent's spine... Compared to this area, the Impasse Mountains that separate the four kingdoms are just a branch that spreads out. These scenery are hidden on the mountain tops, and you cannot see them with your own eyes without crossing the cliff-like cliffs.

Lightning vaguely understood why his father was so obsessed with exploring.

The world is too vast. If you don’t open your eyes to see it, you will always be insignificant. Only through understanding can you become bigger.

Deciding to become an explorer was the most correct choice in her life.

Of course, exploring the world can be done later, and Lightning has not forgotten that he still has a mission - if he flies too far away from Everwinter, the search efficiency will be low, and it will make the support team even more worried. Calculated by time, the "Roland" should soon arrive at the Everwinter Harbor.

She glanced at the hand-drawn map a few times and focused on the Great Rift Valley.

From a distance, it seems to be a raised platform in the stone forest, but it is hollow in the middle, and it is difficult to determine how deep it is.

Compared with the stone forest, which has little changes, at least you can see the cross-sections under the surface of the rocks.

If she still found no traces of the divine stone veins or demons, she should consider whether she should return to Eternal Winter and meet up with the support team before making the next plan.